Delayed monsoon: Severe water crunch looms over Jamshedpur

JAMSHEDPUR: With mercury hovering around 37.6 degree Celcius and rain gods yet to shower their blessings in the end week of July, a major water crisis looms large over the Steel City.
With both the rivers, Kharkai and Subarnareka - which flow by the city and are major source of water supply here - nearly drying up, water shortage knocks the door.
Jusco, which supplies water to Tata Steel command areas, is trying to spread awareness about checking the misuse of water.
Sukanya Das of Jusco talking TOI on Wednesday said that a lot of water supplied is wasted, which needs to be checked. She said people should understand that water is very precious and needs to be conserved.
Das said if people do not wake up now, severe water shortage in the city cannot be avoided. She added that if the already delayed monsoon is further delayed, Jusco may have to chalk out a strategy to tide over the situation.
Meanwhile, the situation in the non-command areas - where people are directly dependent on open wells and deep boring - is very bad. In some non-command areas civic bodies are trying to tide over the situation by supplying water with help of tankers.
The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the long queues of buckets and cans in places where these tankers supply water. Residents in such areas queue up for water in the middle of the night so that they can fill their buckets when the tanker visits their area in the morning hours.
As Steel City is located in a hilly terrain, groundwater table on an average is available at around 36O feet, as per a research report. Rapid urbanization and industrialization over the years have resulted in increase in demand for water. Reports say at present 48.11% of water requirement is met through ground water. In the report it has been pointed out that in 1960 groundwater was available at 32.80 feet, which has gone down to 360 feet due to over-exploitation of natural resources. The report further said rich and affluent class with the help of deep boring are enjoying the groundwater, whereas tubewells and open wells have dried up.
With urbanization and construction of flats in Tata Steel sub-leased area, the population pressure on per square feet land has gone up in several folds in the last few years. In a plot of land where two families lived (on an average 8 persons), after the construction of flats more than 10 families (40 people) are residing. This has led to a huge pressure of civic amenities like water, electricity and sewage facilities, says report.
It may be mentioned here in that in the last 10 years in areas like Sonari west and east, more and more sub-leased Tata Steel plots, owned by employees of their kins, are being sold to promoters at exorbitant prices, which are being converted into flats. This has resulted in huge demand for water in the city.
Now, with delayed monsoon the situation is getting bad to worse each day, said T Mahato, a resident of Sonari.